How Jared Leto's Joker Made Harley Quinn Better In Suicide Squad

As has been previously reported, Jared Leto was an… interesting presence on the set of the upcoming Suicide Squad. The Oscar winning actor went totally method for his performance as The Joker, and was not only reclusive but also went as far as to send gifts like bullets and live rats to his co-stars. You’d think that this kind of behavior might creep out or upset his fellow actors, but according to Margot Robbie, his devotion had a very positive effect on her performance as Harley Quinn in the blockbuster.

I recently had the pleasure of chatting with Margot Robbie on a press line before Warner Bros.’ Tuesday afternoon presentation at CinemaCon – the annual convention held in Las Vegas for theater owners – and after discussing her various methods of getting into the mind of Harley Quinn, she discussed the effect that Jared Leto’s behavior and performance had on her own. She noted that she didn’t get to spend a lot of time with her co-star off set, but that seeing what he was bringing to the table each day on set helped her just be more present within the work. Said the actress,

It’s weird, we didn’t actually spend that much time together. His process is so different than mine that the moments when we really connected on set were when we were filming and both being our characters. Working against someone who commits that much to their character makes my life so much easier. It really makes you forget where you are and be in the moment. It was so amazing getting to see him work first-hand.

Harley Quinn and The Joker are obviously forever linked together as comic book soulmates, but exactly how much time the two characters spend together in Suicide Squad isn’t entirely clear just yet. It doesn’t look like The Joker will be around much when Harley is teaming up with her fellow inmates on a black ops mission, but footage has suggested that the feature will have flashbacks that tell the origins of the pair’s relationship and how Dr. Harleen Quinzel became Harley Quinn (not to mention sequences where they are riding around in Joker’s fancy sports car). If what Margot Robbie is saying about her work with Jared Leto turns out to be true, then we fully expect these particular scenes to really pop.

Suicide Squad will offer the first ever live-action version of Harley Quinn and The Joker as a pair, and it’s without question one of our most anticipated elements of the movie. The trailers certainly have us excited for what’s in store, and all will be revealed when the film arrives in theaters on August 5th.